After a lull on Monday, hosts Goa roared back on Tuesday grabbing two bronze medals via swimmers – Shrungi Bandekar and Sanjana Prabhugaonker, at the 37th National Games Goa 2023 at the Manohar Parrikar Sports Complex swimming pool, Campal.
Bandekar, who was one of the five medallists for Goa in the last edition of the National Games in Gujarat, clinched the bronze medal with a time of 5:13.69 sec.
Later, Prabhugaonker bagged her second medal of the 37th National Games, in the 200m backstroke event with a timing of 2:23.64s. She had won the silver medal in 200m freestyle category on the opening day of competition.
With a sizeable crowd gathering at the swimming pool to watch the local stars, both Bandekar and
Prabhugaonker did not disappoint.
Bandekar, who trains in Bengaluru, had raised hopes of a higher medal when she was going strong in breaststroke. But Karnataka’s S Lakshya (5:12.27s) and Hashika Ramchandra (5:13.42s) not only caught up with her in the final freestyle leg but leapfrogged her for gold and silver respectively.
Speaking after the race, Bandekar said it was a great feeling to win a medal in front of the home crowd. “Last year I won a medal in my last race of the competition in Goa. This time, it is my first race. I have two more events to compete and I will attempt to make a hat-trick of medals.”
In the 200m backstroke, Prabhugaonker raised hope of a gold medal for Goa when she led for about 20-25m after the second turn but could not maintain the same pace and had to settle for the bronze. Palak Joshi (2:22.12s) of Maharahstra won the gold while Bengal’s Soubrity Mondal (2:22.39) took home the silver.
“I am happy with the way the race went. I didn’t realise that I was in the lead as I was concentrating on giving my best. I am happy that I could register my personal best timing,” she said.
Meanwhile in beach football at Colva beach, Goa were given a run for their money by Lakshadweep in the semi-final before the hosts managed to eke out a 7-5 victory. They will clash with Kerala in the final.
